Who Will Drop Millions at Art Basel This Year?

Every week in the Culture List, Vanity Fair editors present a ruthlessly curated selection of parties, art openings, exhibits, and mustn’t-miss events. This week’s list includes the real Art Basel, planes of the future, and a performance from the queen of stand-up.

Art Basel—the one that’s actually in Basel—opens this Thursday, showcasing an estimated 3.4 billion dollars' worth of art from over 284 galleries across the world. If New York’s record-setting auction week last month is any indication, Basel is sure to have some eight- to nine-figure auction sales, leading to the ultimate art-fair party game: Who Pays More, a New York Hedge-Fund Baron or a Russian Oligarch? If you don’t have millions of dollars at your disposal, be on the lookout for bubble-gum king Takashi Murakami’s first feature film, or window-shop William Kentridge’s new work fresh off his successful show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It’s Boeing versus Airbus at the Paris Air Show, where the two aviation giants compete for the most airplane orders at the world’s oldest and biggest aviation event. Boeing’s already got aviation admirers gasping with their 787-9 Dreamliner, which can complete a near vertical takeoff (’fraidy-cat flyers, grab your Xanax), and Airbus is leading the green charge with their new electric-plane prototype. Drones, helicopters, and military fighter jets are also featured, making Paris the perfect place for those who want to go up, up, and away.

Alex Katz continues his contemporary moment with his new exhibit at Atlanta’s High Museum, just a few months after his Barneys windows debut. “Alex Katz, This Is Now” highlights the artist’s landscapes; a curious choice, as Katz’s most acclaimed work is his portraiture. But with Katz’s bold color juxtapositions and abstract interpretations of nature, it’s sure to get people talking.

The buzz before the comedy continues with the Trainwreck Comedy Tour, a multi-city event that features performances by Judd Apatow, Vanessa Bayer, and the “trainwreck” herself, Amy Schumer. Although the P.R. motives behind the tour are obvious, Apatow and Schumer are well known for their stand-up skills, meaning you’ll literally be LOLing and ROFLing in your text recaps to your friends.

All women have that pair of heels—the ones that after five blisters, pinched toes, and many expletives, get thrown to the back of their closets. Turns out, our ancestors did too. At the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new exhibit, “Shoes: Pleasure and Pain,” explore the incredibly intense and dramatic shoes throughout history, such as one pair with sapphire-and-diamond buckles and another with actual silver talons. The V&A examines the cultural significance of shoes as well as why women wore them. Warning: you may want to leave your scruffy Converses at home.